Gutter is an often-overlooked part of the house; it is very important to keep the gutter clean. It might seem like such a small thing but a clogged gutter in the long run can cause severe damage to the property. A gutter that is clogged can lead to leaks in the roof, formation of moss and is a perfect niche for animals like rodents and pests.
Mainly during autumn, the fallen leaves land in your gutter and prevents the free flow of water. When this happens during winter the water that is stagnant becomes iced and pulls down the gutter or form ice dam that leaks into the house leading to a cold house.
Why is cleaning the gutter important?
As mentioned before one of the problems due to clogged gutter is backing up of water, this during winter when the water turns into ice can lead to breaking off of gutter and seeping of ice within the wall. Even with no ice, accumulation of water will lead to pulling away from the roof and leaking of water inside the house causing damage to the property.
Roof damage
The gutter has been designed in such a way that water flows away from roof, but with the gutter being clogged it has nowhere to go and what happens is the water goes into the roof causing damage to the roof and leads to leaks
Damage to the foundation
With nowhere to flow the water overflows and falls into the foundation of the house, mild water retention might not cause significant damage but with heavy downpour with water accumulation it can lead to cracks in the wall, growth of mould and other sorts of problems
Damage to your lawn
Heavy overflowing can even cause damage to your landscape, to an extent the downpour can be withstood but at one point water pour in one area is going to damage that.
When do you clean the gutter?
It really depends upon your area, the number of trees in your area. The recommended time of cleaning is during spring and autumn. You can do them by yourself or hire a service that does gutter cleaning Melbourne based.
How can you clean a gutter by yourself?
Cleaning a gutter is not a difficult task if you will be performing it routinely, all you need to do is gather the equipment necessary.
What you would need is a good ladder, a scoop to remove the debris, a tarp to put the debris and garden hose.
First thing you have to do is reach the gutter for which you would need a good sturdy ladder, place it properly so you won’t slip you may use a ladder stabilizer if you need, once you have come to the level of you gutter using the scoop, remove all the debris, before that spread a tarp underneath so you can put all the dirt this way you won’t be dirtying or damaging your landscape, once you have done that use a hose to flush out the rest and gutter cleaning is done.